The Old Bell Hotel And Attached Front Area Walls And Railings

The Old Bell Hotel and Attached Front Area Walls and Railings

The Old Bell Hotel is a medieval abbey guest house with later additions, located in Malmesbury. The building comprises an early 13th-century abbey guest house, a late 15th or early 16th-century house added to the east end, and a cloth mill dating from around 1530, now functioning as a hotel.

The main structure is built of limestone rubble with dressed stone detailing. The front is rendered, while the west range consists of squared coursed rubble. The chimneys are notable: an east cross-axial stack with diagonally-set shafts, a central ridge stack with paired octagonal shafts, and a west stack in an internal angle with four octagonal shafts. The roof is covered with stone slate, with a tiled cross-gabled west end.

The building rises two storeys with an attic and basement, presented as a seven-window range across its principal front. The east range includes two large gable dormers from the 17th century, with a central early 18th-century doorway featuring an architrave and shell hood. A rear first-floor end gable contains a three-light canted oriel with moulded base and leaded lights. The central range displays three separate gabled dormers added in 1908, with an early 19th-century Doric doorcase to the left of centre, featuring attached columns, entablature and segmental arched pediment, topped with a six-panel door and overlight. A large 1908 porch on the left has paired pilasters supporting a cornice and fretwork balustrade with paired urns, and a round-arched doorway with double half-glazed doors. Windows throughout feature mullions, with ground-floor transoms and reserved chamfers fitted with metal casements; most were renewed in 1908. The 1980 west range features a left-hand gabled cross wing with a coped gable, kneelers and finial, and a large canted two-storey bay with substantial mullion and transom windows.

The interior contains significant medieval features. A very fine ground-floor ashlar fire hood, dating to around 1220 and restored around 1980, stands as a notable survival. Above this on the first floor are the moulded jambs with capitals of an incomplete 13th-century fire-surround. To the right of the lower fireplace are two stone steps from a former winder stair. The first-floor central room retains a late 15th or early 16th-century compartmental ceiling with deeply-moulded beams. The 17th-century east dormers are cut through large trenched purlins. The west extension entrance features black marble shafts supporting paired round arches within a semi-circular relieving arch. A fragment of wall painting is reported either side of the attic fireplace to the central chimney, featuring red feather and scroll friezes, possibly part of a larger 13th-century decorative scheme. A reported vaulted cellar beneath the lounge contains eight stone coffins.

The attached subsidiary features comprise dwarf walls with iron railings to the front areas and piers with ball finials to the west end.

The building was probably constructed by Abbot Loring (in office 1208 to 1224) on the site of and re-using material from an old keep built by Bishop Roger around 1130, which was demolished in 1216. The ashlar fire hood may represent the earliest domestic-style ground-floor fireplace served by a flue in England. At the time of the Dissolution, the house was probably the Steward's Lodging. Following the Dissolution, it was purchased by William Stumpe and converted for use as a cloth mill, though with minimal alteration. The cloth mill was reroofed and extended westward in 1908, with dormers added in the 17th century.